Chloe Zhao’s latest film, Nomadland, puts South Dakota on the Hollywood radar again. Like Zhao’s The Rider (the greatest South Dakota film ever made), Nomadland takes nice pictures of iconic South Dakota locales (the Black Hills, Wall Drug, and the Badlands) and puts South Dakotans on the big screen (or, in this case, all those little screens in our homes and pockets, as Nomadland is out on Hulu, and even if you’ve had your coronavirus shots, crowding into a moviehouse is still not a great idea).
I watched Nomadland last week; I won’t do a full review just yet, but I’ll note that Nomadland isn’t the same kind of South Dakota movie as The Rider. In a way, Nomadland isn’t an anyplace kind of movie; it is about a profound placelessness. That doesn’t make it a bad movie; far from it; it’s a really good movie. It just asks very different questions about a very different protagonist on a very different life path (or does it? in both films, the main character deals with profound loss and personal redefinition… uh oh, don’t get me started…).
But after a hard week, let me offer this relaxing coda to Lori Walsh’s pleasant SDPB feature on Nomadland and South Dakota movies yesterday with one more South Dakota film, another short ditty from the Badlands:
Cory, congrats on providing a jaw-dropping just-learned-something moment in my day. I LOVE this song (and actually own the Rusted Root CD with it), but I had never seen this video before. So cool! Thanks.
… also, clearly the CD must be some sort of re-issue or compilation, as I’m not sure the 1992 release date for Send Me On My Way would have overlapped with the CD era. ;)
Nomadland is a great liberal movie response to Hillbilly Elegy. Those South Dakota scenes ad to that. Nice Rusted Root song, its easy to see how Marijuana got legalized in So. Dak. Too bad its been uprooted, I had to work Uprooted in somehow.
twu, you know my history with that song goes back to my finally remembered days of directing one act plays in Montrose. I am myself only just learned about the location of rusted roots video yesterday from my lovely wife, who dug Rusted Root before I did and who brings surprise and joy to my life every day.
Mark, I haven’t seen Hillbilly Elegy, and I don’t get the impression I need to move it up in my queue any time soon. Zhao makes movies worth thinking about, movies that show her genuine interest in the people she finds (not to mention the characters her actors portray) and the places they inhabit.
But there’s the interesting twist of this movie: the director who loves places now tells the story of a woman, Fern, who chooses not to tie herself to any one place. Fern quietly appreciates the beauty she finds in the places she visits… but her place is no single, static locale. Her place is… the road? the West? the outdoors? America?
Note: there’s a really important line earlier in the movie where, as characters discuss where they might travel, one says something like, “Don’t go to the East Coast.” Fern’s travels appear to range entirely west of the 100th Meridian. Back East is all the established, stable life, confinement. Out West is still the America of which Fern and the rest of us dream.
My gosh—Fern is a cowboy, the cowboy archetype.
I liked the movie and think Francis will win an Oscar, well deserved. I think the Eagle’s “Desperado” was a very appropriate song for this movie.
“You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late”.
Clayton, McDormand gave an excellent performance. She did as good a job as a professional actress of looking natural in this role as real nomads Linda May and Swankie did of giving professional-actress-quality performances. I’d be fine with Oscars for all three… but then I don’t think I can fairly vote, since I haven’t seen enough films this year to make good comparisons.
We know one-night cowboys vote by mail in Boxelder.
This too:
@Phil_Lewis_
Hunters kill 20% of Wisconsin’s wolf population in just 3 days of hunting season
You know Cory, I had a show at USD about 18 years ago, I reconnoitered with an old friend Dennis Sampson a poet originally from Pierre and we drove from Vermillion out to the hills on backroads. The first purchase we made were two folding chairs and he would call a stop whenever, a lot of whenever, and we would park, carry the chairs out in the field, lake, hills wherever and sit and talk and have a beer. It was glorious particularly on Pine Ridge where he used to teach. Took us along time to get to Custer, being a nomad wouldnt be bad.
One of my favorite attributes of Cory’s blog is when he and his commenters alert readers to movies, books, videos and articles worth perusing. After reading Cory’s description of Nomadland I watched the movie last night with my spouse and we enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for the heads up Cory!
Isn’t the failure of white culture and the American way scenic? That’s what I get from the movie. That and a localized kind of white privilege. When white folks west of the 100th Meridian fail at least they can look at the Badlands, the Rockies, the sagebrush and the pine, and live like Indians. Unlike the failed white culture that thinks white culture is worth making great again, these folks know where white culture leads: environmental destruction, failure, minimum wage jobs and steel belts whining on the highway. It’s a great goodbye to the MAGA crowd. These folks don’t have fake grievances stoked by demagogues. They have real grievances caused by capitalism and bad luck. Welcome to South Dakota.
cds first came out in 1979. The Rusted root video shown – Send Me On My Way- has a 1996 Copyright. From wiki.
If you have never seen this 9 minute celebration of progressive values destroyed by the very same progressive ammosexuals, here is your chance..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXfltmzRG-g
WARNING… adult content and adult langwiidge. Not suitable for grudzilla types. Beautifully narrated by Nick Offerman.
That’s what I’m talkin’ about – thanks mfi
The movie’s locations could generally be described as “high and dry” country, with the exceptions of the short Black Hills scene, the Redwood forest and the crashing ocean shores of – Oregon? Note – none of the wet spots were places she stayed.